


Steven Universe Farther Into The Future Episode 25: The Beginning of the End

by LMasterm1nd



Series: Steven Universe Farther into the Future [28]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alien Character(s), Aliens, College, F/F, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Foreshadowing, Plans For The Future, Story Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27666662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMasterm1nd/pseuds/LMasterm1nd
Summary: It's the start of the Series Finale ArcYellow Diamond looks more into the origins of herself and her fellow diamondsOn Earth, Rose has been accepted into college, meaning by the end of this summer, she'll be leaving Beach City with her Girlfriend, while Rose herself seems ready, Steven begins to wonder if he's ready for his firstborn to finally leave the nest.
Relationships: Amethyst/Garnet/Pearl (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond & Original Gem Character(s) (Steven Universe), Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Greg Universe & Steven Universe
Series: Steven Universe Farther into the Future [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607287
Kudos: 7





	1. Yellow's Interrogation

It was nighttime at Don Ruby's club, The Lounge, well past closing time, however, some men stormed the place, headed straight for Don Ruby's office. "What do ya want? Can't ya see we're closed?" said Don Ruby. "We've got something to discuss Don Ruby" said a rather portly looking gentlemen. "Oh, Obese Antonio, what brings you here at this hour?" Don Ruby corrected herself. Obese Antonio slammed the Don's desk "Don't give me that innocent crap! The weapons you sold me and my boys don't work!"

Don Ruby raised her pointer finger skyward, signalling for them to wait as she lit a cigar she was grabbing out of the box next to her using her own flaming eyebrows. She put the lit cigar in her mouth, took a deep breath and exhaled a smoke ring. "I told ya bozos earlier, I was selling off weapons I didn't need no more, I never said they worked" Don Ruby casually explained.

Obese Antonio, of course, was very enraged by the Don's words. He took out his gun and pointed it right at her forehead, not knowing that a gem's weak spot was their, well, gem. Of course Don Ruby made no change to her demeanour, even though there was a gun pointed right in her face. "Word of advice, Antonio, if you're gonna point a weapon at me, you better look behind you first" Don Ruby advised. "You think I'm gonna fall for that old trick!? I know every trick in the book" Antonio laughed. 

"Uh, boss?" One of Antonio's henchmen chimed in. "What!? Can't you see I have her right where I-" Antonio than paused when he turned his head to look in the direction of his flunkies, as they were being held by Don Ruby's Topaz goons, and in between those topazes was a fishtail quartz pointing a weapon at Antonio. "You may know every trick in the book, Obese Antonio, but I wrote the book" said Don Ruby "now get outta my sight, and don't bother trying anything stupid, I ain't as fragile as you humans are, if ya catch my drift." 

Obese Antonio was used to being the one in charge, in his thirty years as a mob boss, he always had the upper hand, never having been in a situation like this, he had no choice but to retreat. He scurried out of the office, Don Ruby nodded her head, and the topazes let Antonio's henchmen go, as they ran after their boss. "And don't come back!" The Homeworld Underground's Pearl called out in their direction.

Just then, Don Ruby's communicator started pinging. "What the...Yellow Diamond? What could she possibly want?" Don Ruby commented. Don Ruby pressed a button on her communicator and a huge holographic panel appeared and on display was live feed of Yellow Diamond. "Yellow Diamond, to what do I owe da pleasure?" Don Ruby asked.

"Well, you and other first generation gems had emerged at the same time as me and the other diamonds, correct?" asked Yellow Diamond. "Yeah, and?" Don Ruby asked. "Well...the thing is...I don't ever recall such the time of my emergence...what was I like?" Yellow Diamond continued. Don Ruby was silent, taking another puff of her cigar "Since it's era 3, I'm gonna be frank with ya, Yellow, yer askin' a question you may not like the answer to." "Whether or not I like the answer is irrelevant, I need to know" Yellow argued. "...sorry Yellow, but I can't risk letting you know, I can't have you reverting to...forget I said that" Don Ruby stammered. 

"Ah, so you do know something" said Yellow Diamond. "Well, that's all yer getting outta me" Don Ruby said "I already told ya too much." "Well, if that's how you want to play this, than maybe a reading of your written logs from when you were in prison might entice you to "spill the beans" as the humans say" said Yellow Diamond. "Ah, you've got nothin' on me, why...wait, my prisoner's logs were being monitored?" Don Ruby stammered. "Of course they were, I wouldn't have allowed prisoner's logs if they couldn't be monitored" Yellow Diamond explained.

"W-well so what if ya have em, it's era 3, ya got no dirt on me" Don Ruby argued. "Are you sure? Because you've written down some very interesting logs about Blue..." Yellow Diamond said with a sly grin. "What kind of things?" asked one of Don Ruby's Topaz goons. Yellow Diamond pulled up a panel containing The Don's Prisoner's logs, and cleared her throat as she began to read aloud doing a surprisingly good impression of Don Ruby's voice "The walls in this prison cell are so White, It feels like I'm inside White Diamond herself, not a pleasant thought that's for sure, old hags like White ain't my style, see? Now Blue Diamond, va va voom!" 

The Don's topazes and fishtail quartz all looked at each other. "That's not so bad" one of the topazes commented. "Yeah, Blue Diamond is pretty beautiful" The other topaz added. "Oh, I haven't gotten to the juicy parts yet" Yellow Diamond interjected as she scrolled down on the panel and continued reading "That Blue Diamond, she has curves in all the right places..." Don Ruby sank into her chair out of embarrassment as Yellow continued reading "I mean, those hips, damn...I don't care if she would crush me, she could sit on my lap any day, If Yellow Diamond hadn't been present during my hearing, I'd totally would have put the moves on her, and I definitely would have won her over." 

The Don's Topazes and Fishtail Quartz were trying to hide their laughter. "Oh, and wait until you see the pictures" Yellow added. "Oh stars..." Don Ruby groaned in embarrassment. Yellow Diamond than displayed pictures Don Ruby drew of Blue Diamond, they were very detailed, they depicted Blue Diamond in various positions, a lot of them highly suggestive. "Now, I wonder how Blue would react if she saw these..." said Yellow Diamond, knowing she had the upper hand.

Don Ruby was sweating for a moment, not saying a word "Alright, alright, I'll talk, I'll talk!" said Don Ruby "I'm gonna send ya some documents me and some other first gen gems had made, just stop!" "Thank you for your cooperation" said Yellow Diamond. The communication had ended, Don Ruby could here her henchgems snickering in the background, she turned and glared at them "What!? So I like pretty dames who are larger than me, big whoop!"

* * *

Yellow Diamond decided to go somewhere private to look at the documents, as she left the room, Blue Diamond passed by and noticed that Yellow Diamond had left an open holo panel open. Out of curiosity she decided to look at them "Oh, Don Ruby wrote prison logs about me...I probably shouldn't...but I can't resist..." said Blue, she looked for a few seconds and than blushed "Oh my..."


	2. Acceptance

It was early morning at the Universe residence, Garnet and Amethyst noticed Connie staggering towards the kitchen with a rather pleasant look on her face. Connie usually got up early because she had to be at work at nine. "Looks like someone had a good night" Garnet commented. "I don't know what you're talking about" said Connie, struggling to keep her balance. "Come on, Connie, we know that look, and we know that walk" said Amethyst "Steven gave it to you good last night, didn't he?" "Amethyst, what me and my husband do in the privacy of our bedroom is none of your business" said Connie, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Don't worry, Greg went out to the diner for the early bird special and the kids aren't awake yet" Garnet added. "In that case, yes, he did, better than good" said Connie. 

As the morning progressed, the rest of the family woke up, and Greg returned. Steven had a busy day of mayoral campaigning to do so he decided to make himself a quick breakfast of toast with jam. As he got his toast from the toaster he was interrupted by a "Hey Dad!" Steven yelped in surprise, nearly dropping his plate but quickly catching it. "Rose! How many times did I tell you to not sneak up on me like that?" said Steven. "Notice anything different, Dad?" asked Rose.

It was than that Steven noticed that there was a variation in Rose's style. "Uh, the cargo pants?" Steven guessed. "Nope, it's the cargo...oh, wait, did you guess cargo pants?" Rose answered. Steven nodded. "Oh yeah, well you see, were setting up the set for the play today, and well, I needed something convenient to carry around the tools I'll be using, so I picked up these babies at the mall" said Rose gesturing towards one of the many pockets on her cargo pants. "Wouldn't a tool belt work just as well?" asked Steven. "Nah, not my style" said Rose.

"Soo...getting jam for your toast huh?" said Rose. "Um...yes?" "Well, you could waste a couple of seconds going to the cupboard and getting it, or, I could save you time and lend you one of these" Rose said, pulling out one of those small packets of jam one would see in a diner that came with a breakfast special. "Hmm...warm jam from your pants...sorry Rose, but I prefer the type of jam that hasn't been in my daughter's pants" said Steven. "Suit yourself" said Rose "Oh, hey! Mail's here!" said Rose. Rose ran out to greet Chip the mailman, Chip was the son of Sour Cream, he had been hired to the post office rather recently. Rose came back with the mail, she left all the bills and junk mail on the kitchen counter and was looking excitedly at one envelope.

"Oh, did you get mail, Rose?" asked Connie. Rose didn't answer, she was too distracted by the letter that she tore out of the envelope, ignoring the fact that there was a perfectly good letter opener right next to her. "Yes! I did it! I got in!" Rose cheered. "Got in? to what?" asked her brother, Piers. "I'm going to college!" Rose answered excitedly. Connie did a spit take, Steven plate actually did drop and everyone else gasped in surprise. "Okay, well actually it's a community college, but still, I'm in!" said Rose. Connie asked Rose if she could see the letter. Connie looked over it.

"You see, Mr. Jamie suggested I should take some acting classes to help further my career if I want to be an actress, so I looked up some classes and found a theatre class at Empire City College" Rose explained "and since he was a teacher there for five years, Mr. Jamie put in a good word for me with the head of the the performing arts dept." Connie hugged her daughter "Rose, this is great! I'm so happy for you!" said Connie. "Wait, did you say, Empire City? That's going to be one heck of a commute" said Steven. 

"Oh, well, about that, you see, Selena is going to medical school in Empire City, and when I told her I was applying for this course, she suggested we rent an apartment together" said Rose. "So, you'll be leaving home?" asked Steven. "Well, nothing's been confirmed yet, but yeah, I think so" said Rose. "Well, I think that's a great opportunity, learning to live on your own" said Garnet. "She won't be alone, she said she'll be living with her girlfriend, remember?" said Amethyst. "Still, it will teach her many responsibilities" said Garnet.

"Hey, maybe I can have your room if you do end up moving out" Greg suggested. "Yeah, totally!" said Rose. "And history repeats itself" Garnet mused. "What?" "When your father first moved out of this house, your grandfather took over his old bedroom, which now once again your father's" Garnet explained. "I don't know, when the twins grow up and become teenagers they might start fighting and want their own room" Connie suggested. "Well, we could get Bismuth to add another extension to the house if it ever comes to that" said Amethyst.

Connie's phone began beeping, sending her a reminder. "Oh, I better get going, see you everyone, and congrats Rose!" said Connie. "Yeah, good for you, sis, even if it is just community college" said Piers. "Yeah, you're the first of my descendants to go to college, good for you Rose" said Greg.

"Yeah...you'll do great!" said Steven. After Rose headed out, Steven took a sip of his coffee. "I should be proud of her, and I am proud of her...but why does the thought of her leaving for college make me feel sad?" Steven thought to himself 


	3. Reminiscing About Rose

"Something bothering you, Steven?" asked Amethyst. "Uh, no, it's nothing" Steven responded. "Well, if something is wrong, you know can talk to me right? Me or Garnet or your dad, you can even give Pearl a call" Amethyst reminded him. Just than, crying could be heard on the baby monitor. "Saved by the crying infants" Steven thought to himself. "Uh, thank you Amethyst, but I've got fatherly duties to attend to" said Steven. Steven went into the nursery to check up on the twins, Nora had needed changing.

"Well, at least it will be a while before you two grow up" said Steven. As Steven but baby Nora back in her crib next to her sister's he thought back to when Rose was a baby. He remembered worrying that there might be something wrong with her due to his unique lineage, but when he saw Connie, exhausted from childbirth, holding the than newborn Rose in her arms, he felt relieved and proud. He used to take full charge of Rose during the first few months, insisting on looking after her himself, even when it took a lot out of him. 

Steven decided to spend time with his youngest children. The thought of Rose leaving by the end of summer was just too sad for him. The babies of course were happy to be with their father. "You can't hide from how you're feeling, as cute as those two are, they won't distract you forever" Garnet advised. "What do you mean? I'm fine" Steven insisted. "Steven, it's okay, really, I felt the same way when I foresaw you planning to leave, all those years ago" said Garnet "you have the whole summer to get in some precious memories with her before she heads off for her future." "You're just trying to make me feel better so you could play with Nora and Lisa, aren't you" Steven accused. "...I'm not saying you're wrong" Garnet said, dismissively "besides, Rose won't be alone when she leaves, she'll have her girlfriend with her, so there's no need to worry about her too much." 

Steven, heeding Garnet's advice, decided to go on a walk. He looked into Rose's room, he saw the photo of her and, her girlfriend, Selena. Steven couldn't help but feel proud of Rose when she started dating Selena, not only because he thought the two made a cute couple, but he also noticed that Rose had the same taste in women that he did. He remembered the day before those two started going out.

* * *

It had been three years ago, there had been an incident at a school dance. Rose was caught in the middle of a crowd, because of an incident when she was little, Rose had a fear of crowds. Steven remembered that day at the amusement park, Rose had wandered off to see a magic show while he was paying for ice cream for both himself and Rose, and got caught in the middle of a crowd, because she had been so little back then, Steven couldn't see her, and because of the crowd's cheering he couldn't hear the poor girl's cries for help. Luckily Garnet managed to save her. Steven couldn't help but feel he failed as a father on that day.

He had gotten a call from the school, apparently when Rose was in the middle of the crowd, she had glowed pink and a bubble formed around her as Rose reverted to her five year old self, Steven quickly drove to the school to see if she was okay. It was on that day Steven first met Selena. Back then, Rose and Selena were just friends, she had taken Rose to the office, Rose was crying because of the whole ordeal, especially now that she was all little again. Steven had drove her home and called Connie about the whole incident.

A few days after that Steven heard a knocking at the door, he had found Selena at the other end. "Oh, hey you're Rose's friend, you here to see her?" he asked. "Yes, it's just that, well, she hasn't been to school all week and I was worried about her" Selena answered. "You and me both, she hasn't left her room since what happened at the dance" Steven explained. "Yeah, I can't even imagine how humiliated she must have been..." Selena commented "by the way, has she..?" "Gone back to normal? Yeah, for a while now, all she needed to was sleep, but still, she hasn't come out of her room since, I mean, she did leave a couple of times to use the bathroom, but other than that..." said Steven "I've tried talking to her, but she won't open up, I've done pretty much everything I could think of...but she's still all shaken up by that whole ordeal." "Would it be alright if I talked to her?" asked Selena. "You know what? That'd be great, I think she could use a friend right now" said Steven. 

Selena went over to Rose's door and knocked on it. "No, Dad, I'm not coming out!" Rose's voice answered. "I'm not your Dad, Rose" said Selena. "Wh-what!?" said Rose. "Can I come in?" Selena asked. Rose said nothing, Selena noticed the door open though, Rose was still wearing her pyjamas, wrapped in blankets. "Y-you're not here to make fun of me, are you?" asked Rose. "What? No! why would I do that?" Selena asked. "That's what everyone on the school message board is doing" said Rose "everyone's making fun of me and my little shrinking act, and look at the most recent one." On Rose's phone there was a school message board directed directly to Rose that read: "I'm having party, I'd invite you, but I don't have any diapers lol" "And that's not even close to the worst ones" said Rose. 

"Well, come on, who cares what other people think, come on, these things blow over quickly" said Selena. "That's easy for you to say, you weren't carried out of the auditorium by your crush" said Rose. "Wait, what?" "U-uh...f-forget I said that!" Rose quickly said. "No, I can't just ignore that" said Selena "what do you see in me? I'm just so plain." "Well...I don't know, I just do..." Rose admitted.

* * *

Steven decided to look away from the room, it held too many memories, like reading her a bedtime story, the blanket fort they built together. Steven then, went out to catch a breath of fresh air, but even that bought back memories of himself and Rose playing in the ocean together. He than looked at his watch and remembered he had some campaigning to do today, so he went back to his office and grabbed his supplies and headed to his car and drove off. 


	4. Primal Diamonds

Yellow Diamond went to one of the watch towers on one of her many Moon Bases, she wanted somewhere private to view the files she got from Don Ruby. There had to be some reason why what was left of the First Generation Gems kept these sort of things secret. She pulled up the files on the console, the title read: "Primal Diamonds, Do Not Read". The title caught Yellow Diamond off guard but it also peeked her interest even more, with the discoveries made by the expedition of ancient Homeworld, such as the strange rocks that sort of resembled human bones, to the old structures that do not resemble gem architecture and seem to pre-date era 1, and that pedestal that gave her this strange vision that felt like a flash back, Yellow needed to know what she was like when she first emerged, or rather simply just what she was.

An image file immediately displayed, one of a strange yellow bird like creature with lightning bolts flying from it in every direction. She couldn't believe her shock. "Is...is this....was this...me?" she mumbled. She scrolled down to see more images of her "primal" self, one of her attacking a legion of Sagenite Agates.

The text read: " **The Yellow Diamond is one of the more savage of the diamonds, even when not attacking anyone directly, it sends bolts of electricity flying in every direction with each and every flap of its wings.** **Should the you see it flying nearby, please take cover, preferably not under anything metal or conductive. If it attacks you however, fight only if there is no other option.** "

She continued scrolling down looking through records of all the attacks she had done on unsuspecting, innocent gems. She slumped in her seat, unable to bear the thought that she was ever this creature. Swallowing her fear, she continued to read on until she found the page about Blue or rather Blue's primal self.

The cover image file depicted a giant blue aquatic lifeforms, with huge tentacles going every which way, the body was like that of a porpoise, and constant streams of tears appeared to streaming down it's beast-like face. More images of Blue's previous self in action were also displayed, just like with the file they had on her. This definitely wasn't the Blue Diamond she knew, not by a long shot. There was also text written about Blue in this state.

The text read: " **The Blue Diamond often clashes with the Yellow Diamond, mostly out of instinct. Do not make contact with the droplets formed by its eyes, it will make you very sluggish, unable to want to do anything. Despite it's miserable appearance, it can be very savage and deadly, a few Lapis Lazuli's tried to get it under control, but all but one of them died** "

Yellow recognized one of the first generation Lapis Lazuli in the image, it was the one nicknamed "The Storm Goddess" if Yellow could recall, this Lapis was part of the Homeworld Underground. She had terraformed a few planets for her, but she also damaged a few of the injectors with the storms she had made and thus the storm goddess was decommissioned. And, like her own file on her primal form, the article went on in detail on Blue's attacks as well

And finally she pulled up the file on White Diamond's primal form. The cover image depicted what appeared to be a huge glowing white pillar with White's gem at the top, the pillar appeared to be a light construct. Yellow was expecting White to be a monster more horrible than her and Blue. The images however appeared to all be from a certain distance, the only gems near her seemed to be in a strange trance like state with their eyes glowing white, standing perfectly still.

And as for the text, it read: " **Whatever you do, do not come anywhere near the White Diamond, while it appears to be motionless, if you get to close, you lose all sense of yourself, close enough to it, without ever going to close, you can hear it broadcasting orders, it is unknown if they're to anyone specific, the only gem that ever got that close saw a pink gemstone close to it, presumably a pink diamond, but this "Pink Diamond" doesn't seem to be doing anything, and hopefully it won't.** " 

There were no reports of White Diamond doing anything.

Yellow slumped back in her seat, processing all she had learned about herself and the other diamonds, there was much more she needed to make up for than what she did in era 1 and 2, but the real question was, how was she going to tell all this to Blue and White? How will they handle it? Will they believe her? as the thoughts went through her head, she noticed one more thing, an article entitled: The Original ones.

There was an image of what appeared to be corpses of pink skinned lifeforms, they somewhat resembled humans in a way aside from a few minor differences. She recognized these lifeforms as the ones she saw in that vision she had where her gem was on display on a pedestal. Looking through the article about these lifeforms, she began to piece together that gems weren't the original inhabitants of Homeworld, these things made her, Blue and White and presumably all first generation gems, but for what purpose? 


	5. Decrypting Hatred

*Gembusters HQ, Somewhere In Deep Space* 

Various Gembuster scientists were working on trying to salvage data from the satellite that was presumably gem made in hopes of finding a star map that would lead them to the gem homeworld. The only problem was that the satellite self destructed upon them first trying to examine it. Of course with it being in charred pieces, salvaging data would be extremely difficult if not impossible, but they dare not stop, for if they do, they incur the wrath of the Prospector, the leader of the Gembusters, and anyone who has seen him behind closed doors, knows how dangerous and insane he could be when he was angry. 

Just then the doors swung open, all the scientists yelped in horror, fearing that it was the Prospector, but instead it was the second in command, Spiritmaster Llesh. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Llesh was much, much more easygoing and gentler than the Prospector. "Pardon the intrusion, but I was just wondering how this data salvaging business has been going" he announced. "Not very good, please don't tell...you know who..." A reptilian looking scientist pleaded. "Be calm, my child, I am not here to do such a thing" Llesh assured "I know how you feel, he actually threatened me earlier..." "He did?!" a mouse like scientist exclaimed. "I'm afraid so, in the thousands of years I've known him, he had never pointed a blade at me, when I found him, he was a much gentler soul, but the more gems he shattered, the more hate filled he had become" Llesh explained "not that I blame him of course, he like your ancestors, had lost everything, I too bore a hatred for gem in my younger years, I was a mere four thousand years old back then. Does anyone remember the day when we had Yellow Diamond in our grasp?" 

The scientists all nodded, it had been a great accomplishment for the Gembusters, until a rag tag group of intruders consisting of a few gems and a couple of gem organic hybrids came and took Yellow Diamond and the most recent addition to the Prospector's "Pearl Necklace" as well, and to add insult to injury, the hybrid child of The Prospector, born from one of the Pearl's in his "neckless" gone rogue and joined them. The Prospector had lost a bit of his charisma after that humiliation and took it out on pretty much everyone. "Well, the Pearl that escaped with those saboteurs, I actually spoke to her, according to her, The Diamonds and the what she calls the former Gem Empire had changed" Llesh continued "at first I had my doubts, but...didn't the capturing of Yellow Diamond seem a bit too easy?" All the scientists looked at each other and began mumbling to each other, he had a good point, it did in fact seem too easy.

"Are you saying that the gem sympathizers on Earth may be right? Are saying we should forgive the diamonds for what they did to our ancestral home planets?" An ape like scientist questioned. "No, but we can't blame all gems, some weren't made for invading and destroying planets, and the ones who were made using the energy of those planets that they took over, surely we can't blame them, after all, nobody chooses to exist" Llesh explained "forgiveness is difficult depending on the severity of the wrongdoing, sometimes impossible even, but sometimes, forgiveness can be the end result of a long progress, it takes effort from both sides, but it takes one thing for that to even become an idea, to sit down and talk, discuss the initial wrongdoing."

All the scientists were silent, and thinking about what had been just said. "In any case, I should get you back to work now, if he finds out I've been chatting with you, all of us will be in trouble".

* * *

Meanwhile Steven went down to the fry stand, which was now a full fledged fry restaurant. PeeDee had taken business classes in college, and when he graduated, his father retired and left the restaurant to PeeDee. PeeDee, utilizing the skills he learned in his business classes found a way to franchise the fry stand, and now there were Beach Citywalk Fries opening up in various mall food courts all across the country. Unfortunately for Steven, however, Fry Bits were added to the menu, meaning Steven had to pay for them now, that and they were also a best selling item.

Steven had decided to order the fry bits to try and get his mind off the fact that Rose would be leaving for college in August. "Steven, hey!" a familiar voice called out. "Oh my gosh, PeeDee!? I haven't seen you since your wedding" Steven commented. "I know, I meant to keep in touch, but it's great to be back, thanks again for being my best man, Steven" said PeeDee. "Hey, speaking of which, how's your husband doing?" asked Steven. "I'm over here" said a voice from behind Steven.

"Oh, hey Charlie" said Steven. Steven had met PeeDee's husband before they met each other, Charlie had a kid from a previous marriage that didn't quite pan out. Charlie and Steven had attended a "Daddy and Me" program together, Rose and Charlie's son got along well and so did Steven and Charlie. Charlie met PeeDee when PeeDee saw both him and Steven leaving the community centre, since then the two were in frequent contact with each other and things sort of took off from there.

"So, how's Lil' Rosie? Haven't seen her in a while?" asked Charlie. "Oh, well she's all grown up now, leaving for college at the end of summer, they grow up so fast" said Steven. "Well for me, not fast enough, my boy spends his days in his room, doing nothing but playing video games, I mean, I play video games myself when I'm not busy, but him, he just sits there, not even trying to get a job" said Charlie "he says he's waiting for the creator of his favourite cartoon to notice his fan fiction and hire him on as a writer for the show. Honestly, I'm worried about him." "Jeez, have you tried talking to him about it?" asked Steven. "We both have, but all he does is say "uh huh" and goes back to his games" said PeeDee "we've tried taking them away, but he starts yelling at us...I think my success my have spoiled him." 

"But, hey forget about that, what's Rose going to college for?" asked Charlie. "Well, she's decided she wants to become an actress and she's going to a local community college for acting courses" said Steven. "Well, it's a high risk career path, but hey, at least she's figured out what to do with her life, that's something" PeeDee commented. "Yeah, but, If I can be honest..." said Steven.

Rose was going by the Beach Citywalk Fries and saw her father there and caught him mid-sentence "It's just, Rose had become such a huge part of my life, seeing her grow up, bonding with her...I...I just don't think I'm ready to say goodbye" she heard her father say. 


	6. Rose's Future

Steven talked to PeeDee and his husband extensively, catching up with how they were all doing. "Well, Steven, it's only natural you're going to miss her" said PeeDee "but you know what, at least she's working toward her future, she's trying to get a career in something she seems to enjoy doing." "Yeah, you know what, during rehearsals, she really did get into her roll, like she was having fun" Steven responded "gosh, look at me, that girl was so proud when she got that acceptance letter, I didn't even tell her how proud I was." 

"Well, like you said before, she's not leaving until august, you have plenty of time to tell her" said PeeDee "when you get home, tell her." "Thanks PeeDee" said Steven. Steven left the restaurant and went about the rest of his day, he did all mayoral campaigning he had scheduled for today, shaking hands with potential voters and supporters, kissing babies and the hopeful speech for a better tomorrow. The only thing he didn't do was say anything negative about his competitors, even though an election was a competition, he wasn't going to talk crap about his competitors, he just wasn't that type of guy

Steven was starting to feel a bit better, he still was going to miss his daughter once she leaves, but he felt a bit better about her leaving to seek out her fame and fortune. 

Soon it was time for the rehearsals, as the play was only a few days away. Steven went into the dressing room and put on his stage make up, did a few vocal exercises to help get himself into character. The rehearsals went as they usually did, but he noticed that Rose was a little off this time. She didn't flub her lines, but he noticed a slight difference in Rose's demeanour. As her father, Steven was very familiar with how she usually acted and when something was up, he knew, somehow he just knew, but he couldn't figure out what.

After the rehearsals were over, Steven decided to wait for Rose to finish off her usual duties with Jamie, the community theatre manager. Steven decided he'd take his daughter to Spactries for a little treat, thinking it'd be the perfect place to tell Rose how proud he was of her, but he couldn't help but notice how sad she was. He saw Rose leaving the theatre and he offered to take her to the Spacetries bakery. Rose simply nodded, accepting the offer. Steven ordered Rose her favourite cupcake. "Hey, what's up Rose? you were so happy this morning, why so glum?" asked Steven. "Well, Dad, I've been thinking about it, and..." said Rose, playing with her hair nervously "...I think you're going to like this...I've decided to not go to college." "What!?" Steven exclaimed.

"You haven't dropped out yet, have you?" asked Steven. "Well, no, but as soon as I get home, I'm cutting up the acceptance letter and dropping my application" said Rose. "No, you can't do that!" Steven told her. "But, isn't that what you want? I overheard you at the fry place" said Rose. Steven gasped, he didn't know he overheard her. "Alright, yes, I admit it, I am going to miss you, but you shouldn't give up on your dreams just to make me happy" Steven explained. "But, Dad, you've always been there for me when I needed you, no matter what mistakes I've made, you never stopped caring about me, I can't make you feel sad" Rose lamented.

"Well, I can't just let you not pursue your dreams, Rose. You're an adult, It's about time I acknowledged that you're not my little girl anymore, you're my daughter, my grown up daughter, and if going off to become an actress is what you want to do, I won't stop you, in fact, I support you all the way. Besides, it's not like you won't be able to visit us on weekends or on holidays, Empire City's not that far from Delmarva. I remember when your mother left for college far from here, when she told me she wanted to apply to that place, I was in panic I might never see her again, or worse, end up with someone else. What I'm trying to say is, I've done my duty as your father and it's time I let you take the reigns and let you decide how your life goes from here, I've got to trust that you can handle it. You won't be leaving until august, we've got the whole summer to have some quality father daughter time, Garnet told me that. earlier this morning, I just wished I had heeded her advice sooner." 

"Wow, thanks dad, this...this means a lot coming from you" said Rose, tearing up "I had no idea you believed in me so much..." Steven put a hand on his daughter's shoulder "I'm glad we had this talk, you goofball" said Steven. Rose giggled at that remark, Goofball had been a pet name for her whenever Steven caught her in the act of doing something mischievous when she was little. Her earliest memory of that pet name was when she ate all the cookies in the cookie jar, when her dad noticed it was empty, she blamed it on lion, but the crumbs on her face were a pretty big indication she was lying.

Steven and Rose both went home, they saw that Garnet tried her hand at cooking tonight. The meal had turned out excellently. Later that night, Steven crawled into bed next to Connie. "So, I noticed you and Rose were in high spirits today." "Yeah, we just had a talk about how proud I was of her" said Steven. "I remember we talked about this not too long ago, when I had that business conference" Connie continued "you know, about her eventually leaving..." "I know, I'm going to miss her too, but we gotta acknowledge how far she's come" said Steven. "Of course, I know that, I remember when she was a hyperactive child, now she's an adult, still hyperactive but an adult nonetheless, not different from a certain someone who's in bed with me" Connie joked. 


	7. Homeworld Found

And so, the week went on, with Rose feeling a bit more confident in herself. Every day she'd get out of the house ready for work as the day of the play got closer and closer. Rose and her father also never felt closer as father and daughter. Steven had learned to trust Rose more as an adult. The dress rehearsals and the set set up have gone by smoothly, eventually the day of the play had come. Nearly the whole town had been there. The Beach City community theatre had been an annual tradition in Beach City ever since Jamie first opened its doors. 

Rose was so excited, sitting backstage, she remembered when she and her family came here every year for a show. Now that she really thought about it, she had a lot of fun memories each year, maybe this may have been another reason she wanted to become an actress. She got into her first costume, for The Witch's human counterpart. She just focused on acting mean like her character, she channeled the stereotypical "mean girl". Rose took a peek at the audience gathering in their seats, she saw her mother, her grandpa, the grandparents on her mother's side of the family, her brother, her brother's girlfriend, the gems and her girlfriend sitting in the same row. 

"Rose, it's not professional to peek out at the crowd like that" Jamie advised. "Oh, right, sorry sir" said Rose. "Never mind that, just get ready for your first cue" said Jamie. Rose went backstage and waited for when her part to come in. The play went through smoothly, everyone remembered their lines, and Rose was having a lot of fun onstage, she may have hated being in crowds, but performing in front of a crowd was actually a fun experience. Deep down she knew that this was the right career she wanted to follow. 

"Wow, Rose is really good" Priyanka commented. "With all the chaos she caused around the house, I always knew my sister was a witch" Piers joked. "Hey, you gotta give her credit, that party of hers was pretty much the catalyst to you eventually asking me out on our first date" Alice reminded her boyfriend. "Yeah, that party was great, until Great Aunt Yellow interrupted it" Piers responded. "I still can't believe you're related to that gem, she's huge" Alice commented

Rose's "witch laugh" was chilling and menacing, it sent chills down the collective spines of the audience. And when Steven's character made his appearance it was only his voice over the loudspeaker being played, and a huge video projection of his face was on the white screen at the back of the stage. His appearance got a huge applause from people who were fans of Steven's old band, and Connie, who really liked Steven's onstage persona.

The play had ended with the audience giving a roaring applause. After the play had ended, many people from the audience shook hands with many of the actors. Rose got the most audience members congratulating her. "That was amazing, Rosie, you gave me chills" said Doug. "Thanks, Grandpa Doug!" said Rose. The rest go her family also congratulated her. Of course Connie didn't forget to congratulate on her husband's performance, making sure he didn't drop the persona until after they were in the bedroom.

* * *

*Gembusters HQ, Somewhere in deep space*

The Gembuster scientists were putting back together the satellite that was presumed to be from the gem homeward. "Hey, I think I found out something" an ape-like scientist announced. All the other scientists swarmed him, asking what he found out. "Well, after putting a few pieces together, I wasn't able to find any data but I did find out that this device was controlled remotely" The Alien Ape Scientist continued. "And how does that help us? If we can't find any data, who knows what the Prospector will do to us" An Alien Frog like Scientist argued. "Wait, I think I understand what he means, If this thing was controlled remotely, than there's bound to be some sort of black box of sorts, if we can find it and decipher the last command signals it was sent, we can pinpoint where the signal came from, if we do that, than we might actually find the gem homeward" A humanoid alien scientist said.

All the Gembuster scientists got to work into figuring out which part of the device was the black box. After hours upon hours of searching and researching they finally found it, all that was left was to decipher some of the signals. "This machine is ancient, I mean literally ancient" One Gembuster scientist commented "but the programming is rather advanced, it's a miracle we're able to translate anything out of it, but the lettering here is definitely gem glyph." 

Hours later, in the Prospector's office, the Prospector was being tended to by the many pearls he had captured from high ranking gems, when all of the sudden, a communicator beeped. "Ah, my scientists, I hope you have some results" The Prospector said in a menacing tone. "Sir, I believe we may have found the Gem Homeworld" A voice on the other end of the communicator announced.

A smile had started to grow on the Prospector's face, evolving into a menacing grin. "Long, long have I awaited for this day" The Prospector said maliciously. 

To be continued in part two of the series finale arc: Gemdemic 


End file.
